2011 Efforts

September 2011
Narcissus 'Herm'

I had just started working on Herm when we had the exciting proposition of our own daffodil.

The Narcissus 'Herm' had been carefully nutured by Rae Beckwith since 2001. Rae fell in love with the island after his previous visit while judging Herm in the Britain in Bloom competition in 2008, and decided to name the new daffodil bulb after the island.

Rae presented the first ten Narcissus 'Herm' bulbs to Brett and I on 22nd Septemeber 2011. The award–winning white flowers are planned to grow in the Chapel’s ‘white garden’, which is currently being restored and transformed. Rae always had this location in mind, as he found the chapel garden a ‘particularly lovely, quiet place to sit and contemplate’.

The Herm community had a Q&A evening with Rae Beckwith at the Mermaid and we we’re able to find out a bit more about the daffodil, Rae himself, and the Britain in Bloom competition.

To read more about the Herm Daffodil follow http://www.thisisguernsey.com/news/news-from-herm/2011/09/30/award-winning-herm-daffodil-to-reside-in-chapel-garden/

Photograph by Lesley Bailey


November 2011
Acorn Planting

During the winter tree maintenance on Herm a Holm Oak (Quercus ilex) tree near the Hotel needed to be pollarded. Many of the branches were cut off to encourage new growth, however a large amount of acorns were dislodged in the process. So the outdoor team collected these and we asked the community to help us plant them in the Nursery for future tree stocks.

The soil we used to plant the acorns into was reclaimed from our summer bedding. The old hanging baskets, tubs and planters were collected and emptied into the chipper shredder, so that the soil could be recycled and used almost straight away, unlike our compost which was still composting!

 Lesley, Leana, Oscar, Matt, Mark, Morgan and Ethan get stuck into filling the pots








Emy showing us the acorns and the recycled Milk cartons

On Herm we recycle our Milk cartons, along with other things such as plastic, tins, glass and cardboard. We decided to put the cartons to an unusual use by planting into them instead of using large numbers of plastic plant pots.
Brett and I washed out the old cartons and cut the tops off ready for the 23 islanders to help plant into them on Sunday 27th November.

India and Eden planting the acorns






 
Albie helping to the carry the finished articles to the Polytunnels

With a total of 467 acorns planted we soon ran out of Milk cartons and had to resort to terracotta pots, but with the help of the islanders the work was finished within a couple of hours and would have taken much longer had just Brett and I been doing it.




Elliot, Ethan and Maddie helping out

The acorns that do germinate will be evergreen oak trees, that will be kept in the Nursery for future use in tree plantations on the island, as hedging plants or planted as part of shelter belts. They originate from the Mediterranean so are accustomed to Herm's climate.





Charlie arranging the pots in the tunnel

Photographs by Roseanne Wheeler